‘It wouldn’t be a good look!’ McMafia is ‘AXED’ as BBC decides crime drama about ‘dodgy Russian family’ would be ‘awkward amid the Ukraine crisis’
- The gangster drama, which was lauded by critics and drew in audiences of nearly 10 million during its 2018 debut, will allegedly not return for a second series
- Production had been delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, but the invasion of Ukraine has reportedly acted as the nail in the coffin
- Starring man James Norton, who has seen his star rise as a result of the show, has also been increasingly ‘hard to pin down’ in time for filming
- At the time of McMafia’s airing, the Russian embassy even hit out at the BBC for propagating negative ‘cliches’ of its citizens in the hit series
- The eight-part series, which first aired Christmas Day, portrayed a world where Russians move in a world rife with criminal activity – but the embassy moved quickly to point out the difference between fact and fiction
McMafia has been axed after the BBC decided that a programme about a ‘dodgy Russian family’ would be ‘awkward’ amid the Ukraine crisis, it has been claimed.
The gangster drama, which was lauded by critics and drew in audiences of nearly 10 million during its 2018 debut, will allegedly not return for a second series.
Production had been delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, but the invasion of Ukraine has reportedly acted as the nail in the coffin for the much-loved programme.
‘It wouldn’t be a good look!’ McMafia has reportedly been AXED after the BBC decided a crime drama about a ‘dodgy Russian family’ would be ‘awkward’ amid the Ukraine crisis
Starring man James Norton, who has seen his star rise as a result of the show, has also been increasingly ‘hard to pin down’ in time for filming.
A TV insider told The Sun: ‘But it also wasn’t a good look to start a second series of a show where the main protagonist is a gangster from a dodgy Russian family who ultimately triumphs on the back of a string of dark deeds.
‘The drama doesn’t glorify the violence or corruption, in fact it attempts to highlight the terrible consequences that followed the break-up of the Soviet Union.
‘But given it deals with murderers and oligarchs, it’s still a very awkward show to be creating in the current climate.’
Wow! The series, which was lauded by critics and drew in audiences of nearly 10 million in its 2018 debut, will allegedly not return for a second series (James Norton and extra are pictured)
The BBC’s press office has been contacted for comment by MailOnline.
It comes after Netflix made the decision to suspend its service in Russia, a company spokesperson said on Sunday.
Earlier this week, Netflix temporarily stopped all future projects and acquisitions in Russia as it assessed the impact of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
‘Given the circumstances on the ground, we have decided to suspend our service in Russia,’ the Netflix spokesperson said.
In demand: Starring man James Norton, who has seen his star rise as a result of the show, has also been increasingly ‘hard to pin down’ in time for filming (pictured with Juliet Rylance)
The streaming service had earlier said it had no plans to add state-run channels to its Russian service, despite a regulation that would require it to distribute state-backed channels.
At the time of McMafia’s airing, the Russian embassy even hit out at the BBC for propagating negative ‘cliches’ of its citizens in the hit series.
The eight-part series, which first aired Christmas Day, portrayed a world where Russians move in a world rife with criminal activity – but the embassy moved quickly to point out the difference between fact and fiction.
Oh no! A TV insider said: ‘But it also wasn’t a good look to start a second series of a show where the main protagonist is a gangster from a dodgy Russian family who ultimately triumphs on the back of a string of dark deeds’ (James, left, is pictured with David Dencik, right)
Taking to Twitter, the UK-based embassy said the drama ‘depicts Britain as a playground for Russian gangsters’ and asked followers to answer a poll to guess how many Russian offenders are currently in UK prisons.
Fifty-nine per cent of voters guessed the embassy’s correct answer of ‘fewer than 10’.
Following the result, the embassy tweeted: ‘Crime rate among Russians in UK is well below national average. Good that our followers are not buying into the cliches BBC is spreading.’
Ministry of Justice figures from September last year show there are 35 people of Russian nationality imprisoned in England and Wales, comprised of 34 men and one women.
This had dropped from 51 inmates at the end of 2016.
The figure is significantly lower than many other European countries, including Poland, which has 891 citizens locked up in the UK, Lithuania, which has 424, and Portugal’s 245.
Yet the figure is higher than other nations, including Greece and Belgium.
McMafia follows the life of a privately educated businessman called Alex Godman, played by British actor James Norton, who is dragged into the criminal underworld following the murder of his uncle.
Tragic: Production had been delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, but the Russian invasion of Ukraine has reportedly acted as the nail in the coffin for the much-loved series (L-R: Aleksey Serebryakov, James, Maria Shukshina, Faye Marsay and Juliet)
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